Work participation rate and development status of Bongaon, Basirhat and Barasat subdivisions of North 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The changing pattern of demography characterized with different types of economic characteristics i.e., size and growth of working population, changing pattern of occupational structure, shifting of worker from primary to other economy, level of income etc. Statistics relating to the occupational structure seldom indicate the actual amount of employment of manpower in the different occupation. The size of worker and the work participation rate, including that of female population, have increased gradually in the study area which is comprises the blocks of Sundarban area, Border area (Bangladesh) and grater Kolkata region. The work participation rate (WRP) increased from 28.18 percent in 1961 to 33.66 percent in 2001. For male population the WPR increased from 49.93 percent in 1981 to 54.21 percent in 2001. A radical change had taken place for the female WPR which has registered by 11.90 percent in 2001 and twenty years back (1981) it was only 3.99 percent. The study area has various types of economic functions and of which there may be dominant one but the dominance of workers in different economic activities varies from decade to decade in the study area. Modern economic development consisted mainly in a continuous transfer of population from agriculture activities to those connected with industries and services. The percentage of ‘other than Primary workers’ to total main workers had increased from 31.44 percent in 1961 to 62.20 percent in 2001 due to lack of work in agricultural sectors and pressure of land, low wage rate of primary workers mainly of agricultural workers, rapid rate of urbanization as well as industrial development.